Dear friends of Sea-Eye,
Today we have to report on a dramatic rescue: of an overcrowded, two-storey wooden boat with 59 people on board. Of toxic fuel fumes below deck, of 4 emergency evacuations and of 2 people who did not survive. Our year began with a tragic rescue mission.
On Tuesday afternoon, our crew received a distress call from the organzisation Alarmphone: a boat with 59 people called for help in the Maltese search and rescue zone. Our crew kept an eye out for the distress at sea for a whole 5 hours: until they spotted an overcrowded, two-storey wooden boat in the waves. The crew of the MOCHARA lifeboat had to make dire discoveries on the spot: Four people below deck were already unconscious. Person after person now had to be quickly rescued from the wooden boat - first from the upper deck so that they could get through to the four unconscious people. Another sad discovery followed: two people did not survive the escape in this boat - they could only be rescued dead. The medical team on board was unable to determine exactly what caused their deaths.
The state of health of the seriously injured also deteriorated drastically: they showed symptoms of severe fuel poisoning. The victims were trapped below deck in the boat unable to escape the toxic fuel fumes and had lost consciousness as a result. Time was of the essence: head of mission Julie Schweickert asked the rescue coordination centers in Rome and Valletta to evacuate four survivors. At around 2 a.m., the Maltese armed forces flew a seriously injured man to Malta. The medical team from German Doctors and Sea-Eye fought for the lives of the remaining three emergency patients all night in the on-board hospital. Meanwhile, the SEA-EYE 4 followed an Italian coast guard vessel to Lampedusa to evacuate the three people in the morning hours.
Then finally the relieving news: our crew was able to bring the remaining 53 survivors and the two dead to the Sicilian port of Porto Empedocle. This is where the SEA-EYE 4 had been heading for the last few hours: to give the survivors and the deceased a dignified escort off the ship. To mourn the people who lost their lives: because there was no other escape route for them than in a two-storey wooden boat across the dangerous Mediterranean. What we wouldn't have done to save their lives in this dramatic first mission of the year.
Yours
Gorden Isler
- Chairman of Sea-Eye e. V.